1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a digital copying machine, which has a scanner section, a printer section and a control panel, reads an image on an original and forms an image, and to an image forming method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, there is known an image forming apparatus such as a digital copying machine, which comprises a single main control unit that executes an overall control, and a plurality of sub-control units that control individual sections (scanner section, printer section, etc.) in accordance with instructions from the main control unit. In this image forming apparatus, when power is switched on, the plural sub-control units start execution of initialization upon receiving initialization instructions from the main control unit that executes an overall control.
In the system in which the sub-control units execute initialization upon receiving initialization instructions from the main control unit, however, it is likely that the sub-control units are erroneously reset by noise, etc. In such a case, the sub-control units wait for initialization instructions from the main control unit, similarly with the time of switch-on. On the other hand, the main control unit does not recognize the reset of the sub-control units, and thus the main control unit does not send initialization instructions to the reset sub-control units. Consequently, matching between the main control unit and sub-control units is lost, leading to a control error. Hence, a process for re-switching on, etc. is required.